Space Regrets
by RySenkari
Summary: In this story, set immediately after the events of "Rocket Men", Lincoln and Clyde are ready to go back to the Space Cadets Experience, but before saying goodbye to their parents and going back to the fun, they feel that they owe a certain camp counselor an apology.


"Thanks for the new loafer, dads! I'll see you in six days!"

As Clyde waved goodbye to his parents, and Lincoln hugged his, the two best friends got ready to return to their week of fun at the Space Cadets Experience. Even though the week had started quite badly, they'd been able to find things about the camp that they did enjoy, and were now looking forward to experiencing everything the camp had to offer, good and bad.

But as they said their goodbyes and got ready to return to camp, a guilty feeling crossed Lincoln's mind. The two had caused quite a bit of trouble in their efforts to get home, and even though there didn't seem to be any hard feelings from the head camp counselor, Lincoln still felt that he had to come clean. Clyde did as well, and the two boys could see the guilt on each other's faces as they headed back to the entrance of the camp.

"Mom? Dad?" asked Lincoln, turning back to his parents as they got ready to leave. "Could you guys hang back just a few minutes?"

"Why's that, sweetie?" asked Mrs. Loud.

"I don't have a problem sticking around, but the pancake special's gonna be over soon!" said Mr. Loud, somewhat impatient as his wife gave him a slight glare.

"Is everything okay, Clyde?" asked Harold. "Did you lose another piece of clothing? Do you need us to go back and pick something else up?"

"No, no, that's not it," said Lincoln.

"We... made a bit of a mess trying to come home before calling you guys," said Clyde. "We just wanted to make sure we weren't in trouble..."

The two boys walked back to the entrance, only for the doors to slide open. Tarreyn, the head camp counselor, was waiting for them with an excited smile on her face.

"Oh, I'm so glad to hear you two will be staying after all!" said Tarreyn, clapping her hands together. "There's so much more amazing stuff we're gonna do this week, I can't wait to tell you!"

Tarreyn's excitement and warmth made Lincoln and Clyde feel even more guilty about what they'd done before. They looked at each other, and then at Tarreyn.

"Um... Miss Tarreyn?" said Clyde, looking away slightly. "Do you uh, remember when we got 'lost' and caused an alarm in the camp?"

"And do you remember when we took the moon rover?" added Lincoln sheepishly, his foot moving back and forth as he mustered up the courage to confess what he and his friend had done.

"Yes, you boys really got turned around! I hope the map I gave you wasn't too confusing. I could make another one if that would help?"

"No, no, you see... we did all that on purpose," said Lincoln. "We were trying to run away, and we accidentally triggered the security alarm."

"And then we were gonna use the moon rover to bust out!"

"And that thing with the flight simulator? That was us trying to get away too."

"We're really, really sorry, and even though we decided to stay, we can understand if you'd want to kick us out," said Clyde, bowing his head along with Lincoln. Tarreyn looked at the two boys, thinking about everything they'd said to her as they looked down at the ground with guilty, worried expressions. Then, her expression softened back into a smile, and she placed a hand on each of their shoulders.

"It's all right," said Tarreyn, reassuring them. "I'm glad you told me the truth, and even though you did break some rules, there was no real harm done and the most important thing is that neither of you were hurt."

Lincoln and Clyde both looked back up at her, still feeling guilty about everything that had happened.

"What I'd really like to know is why you were having such a bad time before," asked Tarreyn with a tone of genuine concern. "Your parents paid a lot of money for you to spend the week here, and lots of kids come through the camp and have the time of their lives, so it's just surprising to see kids who didn't like it..."

"Well, the thing is... we thought the camp would be nonstop fun, but there were a lot of things that we didn't have fun with," confessed Clyde.

"Yeah, like the food," said Lincoln.

"And the space toilet that ate my shoe!" added Clyde.

"And we heard the flight simulator made a bunch of kids pass out! It really scared us and that's when we decided to leave."

"Well, you know being an astronaut isn't all fun and games," said Tarreyn. "Space Cadets Experience is supposed to be a fun and exciting week for anyone curious about space, but it's also intended to be educational and to teach kids the reality of space travel. The real astronauts up in space aren't chowing down on pizza and hot dogs. Real space food isn't always the most appetizing thing, it's intended to maximize the nutrients available for astronauts in space flight to keep them at their physical and mental peak. That said, it's quite possible to make space food appealing! I think maybe later today I'll teach everyone how to properly prepare freeze dried food to make it as yummy as possible."

"I guess part of the authentic astronaut experience is getting used to the food," said Lincoln, understanding what Tarreyn was trying to say.

"Yeah, no pain, no gain, right buddy?"

"You got that right, Clyde!"

Tarreyn giggled as the boys pounded fists with each other.

"You'll be happy to know that we do have snacks available for those of you who can't quite stomach astronaut food, and we'll be having pizza at least one night later this week," she told them.

"You mean freeze dried astronaut pizza?" asked Lincoln.

"No, no, we'll call in," said Tarreyn. "And as for the space toilets, I probably should've given everyone a crash course in how to use those too, or at least let everyone know where the normal Earth toilets were. Did you know that one time, Buzz Aldrin... oh, wait, that story might be a little bit too grown up for you young cadets."

"No, actually, I think Lisa told me the space poop story one time," said Lincoln, groaning as he recalled it. "Clyde, you don't want to hear it."

"I'll take your word for it," said Clyde, putting his hand up to his mouth as if he had contact nausea just from imagining it.

"So... yeah, Tarreyn, that's why we wanted to leave," said Lincoln. "We're sorry we didn't want to give your camp a chance before. Now we know that you're just trying to teach people what it's really like to be an astronaut. It's not all fun and gamesand it's nothing like _Starship Groupers_."

"Oh, you like that movie too?" asked Tarreyn, clapping her hands together. "Actually, that's the movie that first made me want to be an astronaut! Then I started studying up on real astronauts, and even though it's not all it's cut out to be in the movies, reading about the real space heroes made me want to be an astronaut even more! My all-time hero is Sally Ride, she was the first American woman in space! But even before her, the cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova went to space in 1963!"

"Wow, that's even before my parents were born," said Lincoln, looking starry eyed as Tarreyn told him about her personal space heroes.

"Mine too," said Clyde. "That's like twenty years before _Starship Groupers _came out!"

"So even though I'm not quite cut out to be a real astronaut, I still love teaching kids about the joy of spaceflight and everything that astronauts have to go through to survive in space," said Tarreyn.

"It sounds like you're really passionate about your job," said Lincoln.

"I just wish some of the other counselors felt the same way," replied Tarreyn, shooting a harsh glance over at her coworker, a young man named Ricky who was playing a game on his phone as kids ran around in spacesuits nearby. "But I'm glad you two decided to stay, and I promise you'll have a lot more fun the rest of the week than you did on the first day."

"I think we will," said Lincoln.

"And if there's something else you don't like about the camp, feel free to let me know," Tarreyn replied.

"I guess we should've done that the first time, huh?" asked Clyde, blushing and looking a bit guilty again.

"Yeah, we just felt embarrassed because it looked like everyone else was having so much fun, and we didn't want to hurt your feelings either," said Lincoln.

"I always get really caught up in the excitement of the first day of camp! Sometimes I get a little too excited to realize that some of you aren't having as much fun as I am," said Tarreyn. "Lots of people get homesick the first day of camp. Even I had a rough time when I went to my first sleepaway camp. So please, let me know if you're having a problem and feel free to be completely honest. I promise, you can tell me anything and it won't hurt my feelings and I'll try to help as best I can."

Lincoln and Clyde nodded, and Tarreyn smiled at them again.

"And if you still aren't having a good time, that's okay too. You don't have to call your parents, I'll take you home myself, okay?"

"Would you refund our money?" asked Mr. Loud as he sat in the driver's seat of Vanzilla.

"Uh, I can't do that, the owners won't let me..." replied Tarreyn with a nervous smile.

"Dang it!" Mr. Loud shouted.

"I don't think you guys will have to worry about that, me and Clyde are gonna have lots of fun the rest of this week, right Clyde?"

"Right! We'll have a great time!"

"And I think you two boys are in pretty good hands," said Mrs. Loud, giving Tarreyn a smile. She then walked over to hug Lincoln one more time, while Clyde's dads walked over to hug Clyde. "Have fun, we'll see you in six days!"

"Goodbye Clyde, and be careful!" said Howard, as he and Harold got back into their car.

"Bye dads, we'll have lots of fun!"

As Lincoln and Clyde's parents drove away, the two boys went back into the camp with Tarreyn, watching as the other kids began lining up for the day's activities.

"I guess we won't be able to have another go in the flight simulator this week, since technically we already had our turn," said Lincoln.

"Yeah, sorry again about that," added Clyde.

"Oh, no worries, I think there'll be enough time for you boys to have at least one more go," said Tarreyn. "And since you already succeeded in your first mission, maybe you can talk to some of the kids who are scared about going in? In the meantime, I'm going to tell Ricky that he can't take out his cell phone while the flight simulator's turned on..."

As Tarreyn went to give one of her fellow counselors a lecture, Lincoln and Clyde made their way over to a group of nervous looking kids, hoping they could keep them from making the same mistake the two boys had almost made.

"You know, Lincoln, I'm glad we decided to stick it out," said Clyde, patting his friend on the back. "This is gonna be the best week of our lives!"

"You said it, buddy," Lincoln replied. "Even if the Space Cadets Experience isn't nonstop fun, I think we're still gonna have an amazing time."

"Or at least a better time than Ricky over there," said Clyde. He and Lincoln briefly looked over at Tarreyn, who was chewing her fellow counselor out something fierce.

"I don't care if you saw a Mewtwo, kids almost _died_!" shouted Tarreyn. Lincoln and Clyde laughed before taking their place with the rest of the kids, grateful that at least one of the counselors at the Space Cadets Experience cared as much about space as they did.


End file.
